Family Business
by Apocalypticvortexofdoom
Summary: A family of mutants struggles in an opressive world to find its dark secret. Original characters and plenty of action.
1. Chapter 1

Family Business

Disclaimer: Marvel comics came up with the idea for mutants and X-men. Still, my original characters are my own, just as their characters are theirs. Let's try to have a clean match, shall we?

Chapter 1: Terrible Things 

_Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress requires them are not really progress at all, but are just terrible things. –Russell Baker _

Malice moved furtively through the dark catacombs of the government facility. By all accounts she wasn't even sure if it was a government office, but was simply going by the intelligence, which she had been supplied. Her slender five foot ten inch form pressed carefully against the cold stone wall of the security building attached to the main facility. Her primary job: disable the two agents within by any means, and coerce the technician to disable the building's security measures. Her long black hair and wild ocean-blue eyes looked almost animalistic as she lunged toward the office, ducking under a methodically placed row of security cameras. She unapologetically slammed herself against a small statue of an eagle as she activated her communicator.

"This is Malice, who's got their ears on out there, " she said, almost playfully.

The response quickly came back: " This is Moon, how goes it?"

She was immediately comforted by the scratchy, yet soothing, tones of her twin bother. Even though he was nowhere in sight, she could picture his crew-cut black hair and ocean-blue eyes-both features matching hers as they should. Despite such an unmistakable aesthetic similarity, the mutant powers, which they had both attainted at the age of 13, varied greatly. Now, at the age of 23, they both had trained themselves with great stringency how to use their respective gifts.

"I am preparing to infiltrate. I'm going to need some cover if this is going to be a surprise." Malice could feel the anxiety within herself, as she wanted this whole small operation to be over quickly.

"Copy that. I'll cover you as soon as you are ready."

Moon, who was stationed across the street of the five-story bricked building, stood up from behind the Ford pickup that they were presently based from. His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he watched the well-lit security office of the building. Inside he could easily see the forms of three people. A African-American woman with long, dark hair, seated at the main control panel that was slightly above the rest of the glass security office; and which gave her a panoramic all-sides view of the main building, the security cameras, her controls, and the dark Los Angeles street.

Also in the room were two men dressed in white and black security uniforms. One was an intense looking Asian, whose country of origin Moon could not distinguish. The other was a plain looking Caucasian man, possibly of Italian descent. The Asian stood facing the woman at the controls. They were having what appeared to be an innocuous conversation. Little did they know that their docile dialogue was about to be severely interrupted. The other man was seated in the booth, leaned back, lazily; the two other occupants seemed to share distrust and disliking of the other man.

"This should be interesting," Moon said out loud to himself. He knew that in Malice's present position kneeled under the eagle statue that was directly in front of the security booth, she wasn't afforded the same insight into the present condition of her soon to be victims. Still, by all accounts, Moon, with his enhanced night vision, could easily make out the Malice's expression was one of satisfaction and determination-not fear. Still, he was very much concerned about his identical twin, as he was sure their other two siblings were.

Prepared to provide her with cover, he raised both of his hands in the air. Still unseen by anyone, a spectator would have noticed that his eyes were now a more intense blue; in all respects, his eyes were glowing.

"I need cover now, "Malice said hurriedly. "I am preparing to move."

Moon looked directly up at the moon, which became immediately full. With great and terrible unnaturalness, it emitted an even more great and terrible light. That light, now consolidated by Moon's will, aimed itself directly at the booth, and effectively blinded its occupants.

Seeing this as her chance to move, and knowing that her brother wouldn't long be able to hold the light, Malice leapt into action: After an impressive back flip over the statue, she sprinted like a gaze toward the building and moved rather noticeably to locked door.

Holding her hand to the door's electronic lock, a small golden ray came forth and quickly melted the device. The low powered sunbeam also melted a small hole in the door, making it that much easier for Malice to infiltrate. She quickly dashed in; the moonbeam had stopped its terrible glow, but the office's occupants were still recovering from the supernatural phenomena. Still, the two guards had enough optics to see that the black leather jumpsuit clad figure wasn't selling Avon.

Realizing this, Malice wasted no time in dispersing of the two guards. Since her primary power didn't work so well at night, she chose not to zap them with a sunbeam. The solar-based energy ray would be hard to control out of the presence of the actual sun. She could accidentally burn the whole building down, and she knew that wouldn't fly so well. Instead she used one of her cache of supplementary, yet still effective, anytime powers that she and her twin brother both possessed. Despite the primary difference in the ability to respectively control solar and lunar energy, Malice and Moon, more appropriately referred to as Gabriella Christine St. Martin and Gabriel Christian St. Martin, shared a common bond in certain abilities; namely: telekinesis and telepathy of non-mutants.

Enacting the former ability, Malice sent a psychic punch directly into the chest of the standing Asian guard. Before his compatriot in the chair had time to draw what appeared to be a nightstick, Malice removed the chair from under him with a sweep of her hand. Realizing what was happening, the woman, Karen, reached to sound the general alarm. Not to be had by the dozens of security personnel from within the building and the police, Malice sent a volley of telekinetic daggers straight into Karen's chest. It felt as if she were having a heart attack.

With Karen collapsed on the floor, Malice delivered a quick, but powerful, roundhouse kick that landed square in the Asian's chest.

The man on the floor rose and lunged at her with his nightstick. Not having enough time to gather psychic energy around her, Malice acted on impulse and did what she knew best: Used the pier of the sun. Unfortunately, with now sun shining she had little, if any control over what was about to happen next. The yellow energy that came from her hand flew all across the room. Its three targets all suffered viscously: The stack of boxes filled with food stuff on the far side of the room literally became toast; the Asian, who by all accounts was down and out, was permanently decommissioned; and the intended target lost all cool as he was almost incinerated.

"How goes it?" Moon repeated his pervious question, this time with more concern.

"Fine," Malice said pointedly, "I am about to start getting results." Ignoring the smell of burning flesh, she stepped up to Karen, who was just recovering from her would be heart attack.

"Do you see what I did to your friends here? I have no qualms about doing it to you, "she said harshly. It was in her nature to be abrasive, but she purposefully intensified the tones in her voice for dramatic effect.

"What do you want?" Karen asked, mainly out of fear of not knowing what else to say. Under normal circumstances, she would have had a smart comment to make, but she knew that this mutant woman was serious business. Thus, she kept all quips to herself.

Malice replied with no hesitation:

" I want you to immediately deactivate the buildings general security procedures for the next hour, destroy the digital copies of all surveillance feed for the next two hours, and then offer your resignation to the technical captain on duty first thing tomorrow morning. And before you tell me that you can't do any of those things, let me give you something to think about: One, I know that the facility's GSP is controlled from only two locations: here and in the primary control room, which is presently locked. Two, you can institute a protocol that will predelete any footage you tell it to. Further, you don't even have to have it on the logs-it'll look like a technical mistake. Finally, you know as well as I do that your resignation will be refused, but you'll offer it anyway and won't speak of this incident to anyone. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," Karen replied begrudgingly.

"Good," Malice offered. "Let's get to it. Shall we?"

Having heard this entire interchange, Moon piped in, "Good job. Once the measures are down you should be able to slip in and out. The files are on the third floor records room, which shouldn't be locked. I have to say that I am quite impressed with your performance as off late. We've only got one more file left to go after this. You keep it up and the entire operation will be complete in no time."

"Don't mention it, " Malice said professionally. "It's all in a night's work."

The four siblings, each known by their particular power and nature, sat now in a debate of what was before them. Presently, the condition was as follows: They were all at their home, the lavish castle in the Colorado mountains that had escaped the notice of almost everyone, and which had been given the name Sanctum. Sitting in the medieval dining room that had been upgraded to be a conference room with many electronic flourishes, they discussed, at great lengths, matters of much importance. The four of them each had a different and unique air: Standing a map of North America and greatly studying it was Gabriella, Malice, who was surprisingly not tired by the night before. With the sun shining once more, all of her senses were alert and her powers at the fullest. Her twin brother, Gabriel, who preferred to be called Christian and even more preferred to be called Moon, sat at the end of the table. His head was throbbing as he pored over countless papers in the four of five files that the little party needed. With an intense look on his face he observed the remaining two siblings. The twins' younger brother, the cutup, had a look of mock pity on his face as he sat, leaned back in one of the table's five thousand dollar chairs. The particular scoundrel was by all respects an expert at any type of skullduggery.

Still his mutant abilities were more than handy. His primary powers allowed him to first of all, steal the memories of any person he made physical contact with. While this seemed pretty useless at first, it came in handy much down the road. Secondly, he was able to alter the passage of time. He didn't have full control of this ability and could only focus on particular things and people and generally, whether he slowed down or sped up time, it only lasted for a short while. Yet, he was valued member of the family team. His twin siblings junior by three years, he enjoyed being twenty, and when he wasn't busy with his job as a web security specialist, he partied as much as possible-generally he like stealing a girl's memories and then playing on their past to get what he wanted. He never felt guilty. He live by an old saying:

_"Guilt is the price we pay willingly for doing what we are going to do anyway."_

At eighteen years old, his younger sister was much more conservative. Already a junior in college, after early high school graduation, Valerie Amanda St. Martin, who usually went by Mandy, was young, but powerful. Having discovered her being a mutant at only six years old-younger than any of her brothers or sister-she began honing her abilities right away. When her brother Jamie, who they usually called Cronus, decided that he was steal her memories and try to blackmail her in some irritating way, she usually had no hesitation bout teaching him a lesson. Her ability to psychically create energy mirrors- either around something as a barrier or prison, or in protection of something to deflect-came in handy when dealing with her brother. At only five foot five he was like a pigmy to her, and she enjoyed it. At five nine, she was able to always get him back for his little mind tricks. One time their sibling rivalry went to far and she created a barrier around his head, which almost suffocated him. From that point on they had both been more careful: She with her powers, he with his teasing; and all was right with the world.

Generally speaking, they were a happy family. Living as normal life as they would get, they decided to stay together while the older siblings worked and Mandy, or Avalon, went to the University of Colorado.

While they sat doing their respective activities, a booming, yet familiar voice went over the dining room intercom, cleverly installed in the chandelier:

"Moon, Malice, Cronus, and Avalon: I want you all on the launch bay bridge in five minutes."

They all knew that their mother by their mother would sooner or later summon them.

"Time to face the music," Jamie said.

"Maybe this time it isn't bad," piped in Mandy, always trying to put a positive spin on a bad situation. "Maybe she just wants to see how we are coming along."

"That's the bad part," remarked Moon. As they all walked out of the dining room and got into the modern, high-tech elevator that seemed almost out of place in the ancient castle, he made a sweeping gesture of all the maps and paperwork in the dining room. "Our progress isn't coming along so well."

As the doors reopened on the launch bay, the scene set itself up. Coming out of the elevator doors the four siblings looked around suspiciously. Letting Malice take the lead, the other three quickly learned their place. They all walked into the general area of the bay, with Malice at the front and Moon close by her side. Avalon seemed to be afraid of the dark technology around them, though she had been on this docking bay at least a thousand times before. Jamie brought up the rear in a casual, almost irreverent, manner.

In rows on either side, were three specifically crafted vessels. On the right of the party were two identical silver vessels: one-person fighters that were exactly the same expect one had a blue star and the other a yellow one. _The Solar Star_ and _The Lunar Star_ belonged to Malice and Moon respectively. Next to these two intense looking fighters, was a softer more dainty looking jet. Streamlined and white, the futuristic passenger jet belonged to Avalon. True to her gentle nature, she had christened it _Dove. _On the other side of the huge docking bay, were three more vessels. The _Black Warp_, a fighter that Jamie personally designed and two 747-passenger jets that were extremely expensive.

All of the siblings and their mother were excellent pilots and used the vessels on many occasions. The latter, now present, appeared out of the shadows into a dramatic light. Tall and beautiful, the features of the four sibling's mother were in all four of them. Her intense eyes and matching intense look was bestowed upon the twins. While her soft features and almost infant like face had been granted to the younger sibling. Her long brown hair was the same hair that Jamie had, though his in spikes.

Surveying the scene before her Valerie Lane Marie St. Martin, the Mother, didn't need to ask questions. She never did. A mutant blessed with the remarkable ability to see the future, she always had a knowing air about her. Having earned the nickname Oracle from her mutant companions, she had learned to know the future in measured periods. It took great energy to see far into the future and she did that only out necessity. It is a far better thing to know the future and not act upon such knowledge, than to know the future and change the eventual past.

And in her knowing air of grace and dignity, she spoke. Though she was speaking to the group as a whole, it seemed as though she was talking to each one of them individually.

Her words were simple but clear, well chosen but candid, simple but intelligent:

"We need to talk."

A/n: I hope you have enjoyed this so far. I am writing in the middle of the night, so if there are any inconsistencies or spelling errors, I'll correct them on more sleep. Please review; let me know if I'm moving to fast or if you have any questions. All reviews are accepted.

Thanks,

-Ap


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Doctors

_The superior doctor prevents sickness; the mediocre doctor attends to impending sickness; the inferior doctor treats actual sickness." –Chinese proverb_

The doctors were all prepared for their newest project. For the past 15 years they had been working on a major assignment that had come down from the very top. When the highest echelons of their institution asked you to take over a project, you generally complied with gusto.

Exiting the long, dark hallway of the covert facility, the 3 scientists moved into a small lobby that was intentionally poorly lit. Standing at the head of the group was Dr. Lachelle Phear. A beautiful African-American woman in her early thirties, Dr. Phear had a look on her face that would make ice cubes freeze to death. Having devoted the last fifteen years of her life to education and research, she was considered a foremost researcher in the fields of biology and genetics. Most recently, she had headed the project known simply as Bloodstream. It was her personal genetic experiment that had turned out extremely well. She knew simply by the tone of her summons to this particular meeting that Bloodstream would become a part of her life again.

Next to Dr. Phear was the more senior Dr. Alexander Valence. With an immaculate head of snow-white hair, Dr. Valence was a man of 60 who had spent over half his life deeply entrenched in government projects. A master of psychological manipulation, Dr. Valence had certainly earned his degrees in psychology and medicine. Having headed a covert profiling operation for the Defense Intelligence Agency, Valence was more than well aware of how the human brain worked. His time in the DIA was spent developing in depth profiles of people he would never meet. He was responsible for analyzing every action they took, and making some psychological connection that would help his bosses in planning their operations. Like his other two associates, Dr. Valence was apprehensive about this meeting that they had been called to.

Completing the group, long blond hair and even longer white lab coat and all, was Dr. Gail Tamblin. Of the three gathered, she was the only one who was actually a doctor by practice. Having worked for the past 17 years in pediatrics, her entire background seemed innocuous. To the casual observer, se was nothing more than a family medicine specialist who was out of place. There was little wonder why the other two were giving her looks that by all merits could kill.

"Do either of you know what this is about?" inquired Gail.

"No," Lachelle flatly replied.

"It would appear that this is some sort of recruiting mission," replied Valence. He continued pedantically, "Perhaps an excursion of sorts to gain some of our more intimate knowledge with our respective fields."

Just as the conversation was about to begin, the jet-black door that towered in front of them opened and a man with a serious look on his face stepped out. He looked like he had come straight out of the Secret Service; giving the group one sweeping look, he motioned for them to come inside.

As they passed through the door, each carefully took in what was one the other side.

The room was large and circular. With dark panels all over the place and low lighting, it would not have been the number one location for someone to try and read a book. In the middle of the room was a large rectangular conference table with a man seated on one side. One the other side of the table were three chairs, specifically set up for this little meeting. Also, along the walls were many aquariums. These weren't run of the mill fish tanks either; filled with exotic looking specimens from all over the world, the entire setup looked exceedingly expensive. The man at the table motioned for the group to have a seat.

Upon closer look, they all immediately recognized him as Drake St. Martin. Though none of them really knew what he did, they all had seen his face on the news.

"Hello. I am quite sure that you are all wondering what you are doing here," St. Martin said. He was a man of about thirty with a straight set jaw and piercing blue eyes. His brown hair accented the look, as he could have easily been a model; except for his height, which was pretty average at only five feet six inches tall. "First allow me to introduce myself," St. Martin continued.

"I am Drake St. Martin, special director of the Global Security Network." The GSN was whom the building that they were presently in belonged to. Global Security's operations on the worldwide scene were no secret. They were the premiere intelligence and protection corporation with a presence in almost 230 lands. Holding strong to their convictions, the people who comprised their 50,000 employees believed that it was their mission to keep the world safe. While it seemed a little cliché, it was the truth that they worked day in and day out, sometimes against the will of some very powerful governments and people, to make sure that what was right was done and what was wrong was eradicated. Of course, this was a front for much more important and much more dangerous operations.

"Dr. Valence, Dr. Phear, and Dr. Tamblin, you've been invited to this little meeting because we are in need of your services on a very special operation. Allow me to explain before you can object.

I am quite sure that you are all intimately familiar with the Mutant Movement across the world. While there are a number of mutants speaking out against what they consider as oppression against them, there are an equally important number who are keeping silent and choosing to go on wit their lives as normal. Counted amongst that number is a family of five mutants who, by all accounts are doing what they should: they're living a quiet life and going about their business as normal.

Unfortunately, the mother of this little group has discovered that the family has a secret that will not remain silent for long. She has decided to tell the children. Don't ask how we have this intel, but know that it is reliable and that it will set off a chain of events that will be devastating. As mutant factions in the world begin to separate and take positions on key rights issues, powerful mutants like these will be asked to take sides. With the discovery of this secret and mounting social pressure, this family will get involved with some things that we don't want them involved with. That is why we need you three to work with us to stop this family."

Judging by the blank expressions on the faces of the three doctors. Drake knew that what he had just said had taken them by surprise. So he continued, "All of you will have a crucial role."

"Then what is she doing here?" Dr. Phear asked, quickly recovering from her shock.

"Oh, there are a few things we can think of," Drake said, realizing this was the start of something beautiful.


End file.
